Archive for the ‘Non Sequitur’ Category

Shortly after the financial collapse of 2008, investors started going gaga for gold. The precious metal jumped from $705 an ounce to $1,365 an ounce in the span of just over two years. I can understand the reluctance to embrace currencies like the compromised dollar, the radically weakened Euro, and the allegedly undervalued Yuan, but what is it about gold that makes it superior? Should one of the world’s currencies collapse, or a substantial government bond issuer default on its loans, will gold be seen as a viable backup or will people rush to secure natural resources instead? In the face of social catastrophe (or even recession) what purpose does gold serve? Sure, it’s pretty, but it has no intrinsic value, at least not compared to clean water and renewable electricity. Hmm…clean water…renewable electricity…now those sound like they’re investments worth making.

If only it were this easy. I’ve owned my house for four seasons now and have discovered, much to my surprise, that fall is my least favorite when it comes to yardwork. I thought winter would be my least favorite, with its incessant shoveling, and that summer would be nearly as aggravating, with its regular mowing and edging. But while those tasks are laborious, they’re nowhere near as frustrating as raking leaves. Much to my surprise, I’ve found myself yearning for the sweaty days of summer every time I’ve tried to rake a small, stubborn leaf. At this point, if I had to choose between buying a snowblower and a buying leafblower, I would definitely choose the latter.

Sometimes a simple sight gag does the trick for me. This was the only comic in today’s paper that made me laugh out loud. Then again, maybe I’m taken with today’s Non Sequitur because I always seem to run into this problem. Having a hyphenated last name means constantly running out of space when filling out forms.